How design appeals to the soul:

Posted by Rider. a wordy fool.
on
August 05, 2015

I am not a designer. I am a solution maker and a tinkerer and I purport to make things with some semblance of function and pupose. To finalize anything though - I appeal to the experts in materials, proportion and aesthetic -- and I try and keep up.

But through this process I recognize that great design is difficult and additive and spontaneous and also a great deal of work; even times the result of accidents.

Great design should solve a problem and solve it with style such that it can live beyond the problem it solves.

When something transcendental happens to a thing we may call that great design. To be seen, it can only occur within its originating context; like a chord or a theme in the music of things.

Design incorporates both internal and external proportions to create balance and tension which gives us pause and causes us consider the potential of the thing before us.

I can't put my finger on it, but in a flow, it happens - and when you play upon the music of things, its only because you've put the work into making it possible. So, gardeners, keep working the soil and listening to your plants, makers, keep expressing the themes you find pleasing, and musicians, artists, programmers... I'm a hack, so keep doing what you do best so the rest of us can appreciate it.

And when we see it we will know it- because great design speaks to us in ways than make our lives richer in both depth and breath.